Sunfinder Vacations

Writer Harriet Baskas based this independent review on her 7-night Western Caribbean cruise departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Setting sail in April 2004, the balcony-rich Caribbean Princess exudes a quirky confidence. Big and beautiful with room for 3,600 passengers, this new Grand-class ship is a barrel of fun without a trace of ostentation. The secret may lie in the island attitude infused into everything from the unending deck parties and hot Caribbean-themed shows to the giant outdoor screen that puts a new twist on a night out at the movies.

Why Caribbean Princess?

• Movies Under the Stars: Day or night, music videos, first-run movies, and classic films all look and sound great on the Calypso Pool’s 300-square-foot outdoor movie screen.
• Multiple dining choices: One dining room offers set dining times and assigned tables, while two others let you mosey in at will. Not enough options? Try Sabatini’s Trattoria, Sterling Steakhouse, the buffets, and more.
• Onboard activities: Bingo, casino games, and cyber golf sell themselves, but who knew wooden horse racing, diving for limes, and game show takeoffs could be so charming and inviting?

Who should go
This ship is new enough, and big enough, to attract and accommodate multi-generational families, experienced cruisers, first-timers, and folks celebrating weddings, birthdays, or a long-awaited week with or without the kids. Almost 900 cabins have balconies, so it’s a good choice for those who want a bit of luxury at a good price. Laid-back types have room to chill, while active types hustle about, gliding from ballroom dancing and cyber golf to the casino and belly-flop competition.

Heard on the deck (during the sail-away party): “It’s my first cruise! I’m loving the luxury of it all already and we’ve barely left port.”

Who shouldn’t go
At 950 feet long, Caribbean Princess may be inappropriate for people who have trouble walking long distances. And with room for 3,600 passengers, public spaces do get crowded, so this is a poor match for those seeking a truly intimate shipboard experience and reliably clear sailing at the buffet, the theater, and the shops.

Heard on the deck: “There’s just too much land to cover to get anywhere. I don’t use a walker at home but I brought one along in case I fell too far behind.”

Hits and misses

• Don’t miss: Movies and music videos on Pool Deck, both by daylight and at night under the stars, beat the front seat at the drive-in movies hands down.
• Best part of the ship: The small adult-only pool by the Lotus Spa offers refuge from wind, crowds, and kids, and is the ship’s only swim-against-the-current pool.
• Best experience: The multi-course dinner at Sabatini’s Trattoria is an intimate dining experience, especially if you’re seated with a view.
• Best shipboard activities: Sea days sail by at the Calypso and Neptune’s pools, with live music and contests challenging swimmers to race the clock or harvest bobbing fruit.
• Needs improvement: The movie popcorn should be fresh-popped and buttery, but movie fans rate it dry and stale-tasting.
• Activities to skip: Port shopping seminars -- staff is a bit too enthusiastic for all but the most serious shoppers (though some good prizes are raffled off).

How to meet the captain
Unless you’re a V.I.P., getting married onboard, or a high-bidder for the ship’s auctioned nautical chart (signed by the captain himself), your best bet for meeting the captain is to sidle up to him at his gala toast after he’s made his welcome speech and is mingling.

Main Dining Rooms: Island, Coral, and Palm
Passengers opting for “traditional fixed seating” dine in the Island Dining Room. Those who choose “anytime dining” are seated in the Coral or Palm Dining Rooms; diners reserve a table ahead of time, or mosey in and make new friends at every meal. Dining room décor is similar in all 3 rooms, and menus are identical. Venues are understated, with low ceilings, sparkling overhead lights, and no soaring sea views distracting from the tough but rewarding task of choosing the day’s seafood specialty, or opting for the sumptuous rack of lamb or roasted pork loin. Dessert for everyone!

Tips:

• Those who want to dine traditional-style at the Island Dining Room should request this option ahead of time, or visit the maître d’ promptly at boarding. Space is limited.
• Arrive early if you want to be seated right away for dinner in the Palm or Coral Dining Rooms. Anytime dining sometimes means everyone shows up at the same time, and that can cause long waits.

Heard on the deck (from a Polish waiter talking to a German passenger): “I assure you it is Clam Chowder, sir. You just may not recognize it because it’s a New England recipe made by an Italian cook.”

Heard on the deck (at a table of eight during an “anytime dining” dinner): “Skip ‘traditional seating.’ I chatted with this man two years ago at an open-seating lunch, and now we’re married.”

Sabatini’s Trattoria
For a $20 cover charge (and optional tip), Sabatini’s Trattoria transports diners from cruise ship to Florence, Italy. Diners sample each (and every) appetizer, then move slowly through a dainty pizza, soup, salad, and pasta course before choosing a main entrée. By then the chef’s Seafood Sampler (one of everything) seems the most rational choice. You may not think there’s room for dessert, but of course, there always is. Seats are limited and space fills up quickly, so line up to make a reservation the moment you board.

Tip: Sabatini's table 407 is the only one by a window, and is only available for 6 and 8:30 PM reservations.

Sterling Steakhouse
A $15 cover charge gains entry to this Chicago-style steakhouse. Enthusiastic waiters wheel over a giant presentation tray filled with generous choice cuts of corn-fed beef and then describe the benefits of each. Filet mignon? Very good, sir. Porterhouse steak? Even better. All cuts are excellent and, if you have room, seconds are encouraged. Fish and chicken dishes are good, but they don’t get any of the loving attention paid to each and every piece of meat. Like Sabatini’s, make reservations early.

Other dining options

• Café Caribe: International-themed buffets trade off with chilled Seafood Extravaganzas loaded with lobster claws and crab legs. Catch sushi lunch on sea days.
• Horizon Court: Two distinct buffet lines offer heaps of adequately prepared food around the clock. Peak meal times can get crowded and disorderly.
• Prego Pizza: Hot, cheesy, thin-crust pizza with standard toppings -- plus a daily special -- is available poolside until late in the evening.
• Trident Grill: Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, veggie burgers, and hot dogs are also served up poolside, all with a hefty side of fries.
• Scoops Ice Cream Bar: Tucked between the two main pools, Scoops dishes up sundaes, milkshakes, and floats, including the “Red Bull Power Float.” Prices start at $3.75.
• Room Service: A set menu of sandwiches, salads, burgers, and desserts can be delivered free 24 hours a day. Trays often show up within minutes, so have a tip ready, and your bathrobe on.

Best dining

• Dish: Why make choices? The chef’s Seafood Sampler at Sabatini’s lets you try a bit of every seafood dish on the menu, including the lobster tail.
• Dessert: Order the heart-shaped Princess Love Boat Dream from any restaurant onboard -- it's made of dark Swiss chocolate mousse flavored with Lady Godiva liqueur.
• Restaurant: At Sabatini’s Trattoria, a romantic dinner lasts for hours as diners sample more than 20 dishes, from fried soft Italian cheeses to deviled crab cakes and grilled scampi to the finest tiramisu afloat.
• Food seminar: In the Food Show, the executive chef will “teach” a crew member to prepare several dishes. No free tastes, but lots of laughs, and a galley tour.

How to…

• Get a table for two: If you choose traditional seating, request a table for two at booking, or ask the maître d’ upon boarding. If you're dining open-seating, call the concierge for a reservation, or ask at the door.
• Celebrate a birthday/anniversary: Add your dates to your online profile and balloons will arrive at your door. Tell the head waiter, and you’ll get a special dessert and maybe a song.
• Change seating: If you're dining at the Island Dining Room and you dislike your tablemates, speak with the maître d’ right away as most seating changes get made on the second day.
• Dress for formal night: Men wear tuxedos or their best suits. Women don evening gowns or cocktail dresses. Rentals are available for those who want to dine more formally than they prepared to dress. Measurements are free, but expect to pay upwards of $80 for a tuxedo rental and $20-30 for a velvet, crepe, or glitter skirt.
• Dress for casual night: For men, it’s nice button-down shirts, casual pants, and the occasional sports jacket. For women, it’s casual dresses or pantsuits.

Tips:

• Don’t want to pay for ice-cream? Skip Scoops and wait until meal time. Sundaes and sorbets are always on the menu in the dining rooms, and ice-cream is served at the Horizon Court buffet 3:30–4:30 PM daily.
• Picky about your coffee? Dining rooms serve it in warm cups fresh pulled from a heated drawer. Or head to the Lobby Bar for complimentary, fresh-brewed coffee until 4 PM. It may be the same coffee served upstairs in the buffet, but for some reason it tastes better here. Each morning, fresh pastries are set out (in the afternoon, it’s fresh-baked cookies). Espresso, cappuccino, and other iced and hot coffee drinks are also available here, but for a fee.

Heard on the deck (from a couple standing amidships):
Wife: “What should we do now?”
Husband: “Let’s eat.”
Her response: “Oh my gosh, not again. Well, okay.”

Standard inside and oceanview cabins are filled with light wood furniture and decorated in shades of cream and blue. They're equipped with refrigerators, TVs, large closets, desks/vanities with hair dryers, telephones with voicemail, showers, blackout drapes, and twin beds that can be converted to queen-size beds. Most oceanview cabins have a bit more square footage than inside cabins, and about 900 oceanview cabins have balconies, making this luxury (and extra square footage) an affordable treat.

At 324 square feet, minisuites are popular upgrades, adding a separate seating area with sofa bed, desk, balcony, walk-in closet, extra TV, and bathtub. Suites with balconies offer even more square footage, plus a wet bar. Family suites sleep eight, combining two interconnecting cabins with a living room in-between. For a real splurge, the Grand Suite tops everything with a real queen-size bed, personal computer, corner bathtub with whirlpool jets, and large balcony.

Tips:

• No matter what size cabin is chosen, everyone receives branded bathroom amenities from the onboard Lotus Spa, and chocolates on their pillows each evening.
• Fresh fruit bowls for your cabin are available, and refillable, upon request. Just fill out the order form and hang it on your door. The service is complimentary and you choose the fruits.
• Need clean clothes? “Presto” same-day service costs 50 percent over next-day charges. Or do it yourself: Coin-op machines are located on each floor where passenger cabins are located.

Cabins for guests with disabilities
Caribbean Princess has 25 wheelchair-accessible cabins distributed among inside, obstructed oceanview, and balcony cabins. A wide variety of additional equipment, such as shower stools and door knock sensors, is available.

No need to retire early. Nightly entertainment goes well past midnight. In addition to nightly Movies Under the Stars, entertainment options include game show takeoffs (think Princess Idol), comedy shows, and elaborate song and dance productions from the in-house troupe. Shows are repeated and offered in venues ranging from the 800-seat Princess Theater to the smaller Club Fusion and Explorer’s Lounge. Show “grazing“ is popular, where passengers just stop by for a few minutes before moving on to the next event, but you’ll need to arrive early to get a seat for Princess Theater’s early shows.

For some, daytime entertainment is as complex as picking up the daily Brain Waves Quiz in the Joker’s Card Room and stopping at the Internet café to check e-mail. Others fill the day with casino and bingo games, wooden horse racing, poolside competitions, line dancing classes, or a Scholarship@Sea computer class. Free champagne and raffle prizes lure many to the art auctions in the Explorer’s Lounge, while others attend to purchase good, and sometimes great, art at a fair price.

Heard on the deck (from the auctioneer): “We are the newest ship in the fleet so we get the best art.”

Bars, lounges, and casino
Fourteen bars and lounges dispense cocktails and mocktails. Several poolside bars service parched sunbathers while Crooner’s draws crowds with a piano player versed in the standards and a menu of 50 martinis. The Wheelhouse Bar beckons couples adept at cheek-to-cheek dancing, while Skywalkers Nightclub, up above the top deck, rumbles loudly through the night. When the Grand Casino is open, its bar goes into overdrive, insuring there are no thirsty roulette, blackjack, slots, or three-card poker players.

Tips:

• Most bars offer a daily drink special, though it's generally offered for just a few hours each day.
• Like fruity drinks? Purchase a Hurricane in a souvenir Hurricane Cup early on. Whenever you present the cup or the special sticker you’ll be able to buy the cocktail or mocktail of the day at a reduced price.

Heard on the deck: “We agreed to wait for a table for two and the head waiter handed us a pager. I hung out at the casino -- and won $50!”

Swimming pools
Sunbathers and swimmers can choose from five different swimming pools (not to mention the cute children’s splash pool). Each has an adjacent hot tub (or two). The main action takes place at the twin Calypso and Neptune’s pools on Lido Deck, which can get loud and raucous with live calypso music, big-screen music videos, kids, and organized pool games. Kid-free bathing occurs at the Terrace Pool on Deck 14 and at the lovely Lotus Spa pool, the ship’s only swim-against-the current pool. Neptune's is most popular at night, when first-run and classic movies play drive-in style (see Shows below for more details).

Tip: No lifeguards mind the pools, so keep an eye on kids (and poor swimmers).

Shows
While too small to accommodate everyone who wants to see each show, the 800-seat, $15 million Princess Theater has lighting and staging equal to that of a small Broadway Theater. The hall hosts popular comedians, magicians, and jugglers, but it shines during variety shows performed by the ship’s song and dance troupe. “Let’s Rock” includes a few dance numbers that may be too risqué for young children. But “Caribbean Caliente,” the high-energy, Latin American tour, gets everyone on their feet.

The entertainment continues outdoors with day and night screenings of music videos and movies on the giant 300-squre-foot LED poolside screen. Drive-in movies may be a thing of the past on land, but at sea nothing beats stretching out on a chaise lounge with a fruity drink and watching a first run hit or a classic musical under a star-filled night sky. Evening screenings are open to all guests, but for the best seats, be sure to ask the concierge for reservations, especially for the popular early evening screenings.

Tips:

• Arrive early to get a seat for the early shows in the Princess Theater, a venue that fills up way too quickly.
• Be sure to catch the Princess Theater Backstage Tour. You’ll learn how the crew manages to control the onstage rain effects and why the performers must be able to sing, shimmy -- and sew.

Shore excursions
An extensive list of shore excursions is offered at each port. Pre-cruise, online bookings are suggested for popular mid-priced excursions like snorkeling trips and drink-inclusive party cruises. An onboard excursion desk helps match adventures with interests, but has no last-minute discounts. Cancellations require a 24-hour notice, but switching between tours offered by the same operator is sometimes allowed. Special efforts are made to get groups off the ship in time for early morning excursions.

Weddings and vow renewals
About a dozen weddings and vow renewal ceremonies occur weekly in the ship’s Hearts and Minds chapel (which, due to a design oversight, was initially left out of the ship’s layout). This 25-seat chapel is a fine venue for getting hitched by the captain. Those hoping to tie the knot at sea must prearrange the event with a land-side wedding planner who hands the event over to a shipboard planner. Fees vary by ceremony and amenity package.

Heard on the deck (from a husband on a pre-sail tour of the chapel): “She got me to do that once and I’m sure she’ll get me to do it again.”

Looking for…

• Quietist spot: It’s always serene in the library, which has daily newspaper printouts, three computers, and armchairs equipped with CD listening stations.
• Liveliest spot: On sunny days, it's nonstop action at Calypso and Neptune’s, the twin pools.
• Most popular activity: Popular activities include sunbathing, sitting in the hot tubs, and playing Bingo -- especially as the cruise progresses and the pots grow bigger.
• Best view: Skywalkers Nightclub is surrounded by windows and located 19 stories above the water, out over the top deck, offering unobstructed ocean views as far as the eye can see.
• Best show: Caribbean Caliente is jam-packed with hot Latin American dancing and singing. At show’s end, even the audience is up and dancing.
• Best drink: The apple-green Appletini (vodka and apple schnapps) is popular, but the Sour Apple Martini (made with DeKuyper® Pucker® Sour Apple) has an extra kick.

Spa and salon
The ship’s Lotus Spa and Salon offer an oasis of pampering. East Asia-inspired décor, soothing (but not too new agey) music, and gracious staff usher guests into a pre- and post-treatment relaxation area with heated lounge chairs and healthy snacks. Treatments range from cleansing bathing rituals to facials, massages, and special services for men and teens. To maintain the stress-free, Zen-like atmosphere, product selling is minimal or non-existent.

Fitness areas
Adjacent to the spa, the gym offers great ocean views and a full complement of workout equipment, including treadmills, stair steppers, free weights, and weight machines. There are plenty of machines, but they’re in high demand most mornings, so a 30-minute limit is set for the most popular ones. There’s also a full range of classes, including body conditioning, yoga, stretching, group cycling, and Pilates. Some classes have a small fee, but most are free and welcome all ages and abilities.

Tips:

• Changing rooms have steam baths, saunas, and large showers, and are complimentary for everyone onboard. Additional steam rooms, saunas, and showers are located in the treatment area, but are restricted to those receiving spa services.
• All spa services cost considerably less on days when the ship is in port. These port and sea prices are clearly listed in the spa brochure.
• A 15 percent gratuity is added to all spa bills.
• Workouts outside the gym might include walking along Promenade Deck, jogging on Sports Deck, or ambling through the 9-hole putting course. Unfortunately, cyber-golf only simulates walking an 18-hole golf course.

Heard on the deck (from a couple passing through the gym area):
Wife: “That’s what we should be doing together to get in shape.”
His response: “Let’s discuss it after we eat.”

Atrium boutiques offer watches, cosmetics, jewelry, clothing, perfume, souvenirs, and duty-free liquor. During ”special sales,” the wares overflow into the corridor, making it hard to resist a purchase when you consider how life could be improved with a new watch or a few feet of gold or silver chain. Discounts mount as the ship nears home port, but save some cash for the art auctions (free champagne and raffle prizes are a regular feature) and the photo gallery.

Heard on the deck (in the back of the auction): “If you know something about the art you’re buying, you can get some great deals. If you’re a novice, be careful, and stay away from the champagne.”

Tips:

• When shopping onboard, take along the “Passport to Savings” booklet from your cabin. Fill out the coupons as you shop and your purchases may be free.
• Duty-free liquor bought onboard arrives in your cabin the night before the cruise ends.
• Shopping seminars push “approved” port stores, which pay fees to be listed. Skip the seminars but grab the printed port guide.
• If you purchase items from the ship’s shore-side recommended shops you can receive a 30-day Buyer’s Guarantee covering repairs and exchanges.

Kids happily congregate on Deck 16 in brightly decorated, age-specific centers for specific age groups: 3-7, 8-12, and 13-17. Doors open at 9 AM and supervised activities range from arts and crafts, movies, and video games to sports events and karaoke. Fast friendships bubble up long before the kid-oriented, mid-cruise sail-away party kicks off. Many families bring or rent walkie-talkies to stay in touch, but don’t fret if your kids forget to turn theirs on -- it's likely that they're just having too much fun.

Heard on the deck (through a walkie-talkie during a port visit): “But mommy, I AM on the ship.”

Tips:

• Private babysitting isn’t available; however, group sitting is offered nightly for kids under 12. Pre-booking is required and there is a per-hour, per-child charge.
• To save some cash, buy children (and maybe even adults) a soda card as soon as you board the ship. Fill-ups are free from then on at any café or bar.

Heard on the deck: “I really didn’t mind that my teenager stayed out all night. I knew the security staff was keeping an eye on the kids.”

As her name suggests, Caribbean Princess sticks to Caribbean sailings, alternating between Eastern and Western itineraries. All sailings depart from Fort Lauderdale.

Heard on the deck: “Last time I was in Cozumel, I got drunk. I’ve grown up since then. Now I’m going shopping.”

• Year entered service - 2004
• Cruise line - Princess
• Ship name - Caribbean Princess
• Passenger capacity - 3100
• Decks - 19
• Total cabins - 1557
• Private balcony cabins - 674
• Total crew - 1200
• Officers nationality - British/Italian
• Tonnage - 116,00
• Registry - Bermuda